An engineering specialism within a grammar school
Specialist Engineering Status
Engineering and the Community
Teachers from Ripon Grammar School offer support to local junior schools throughout the year. Work is being undertaken in the curriculum areas of Design Technology and Science. RGS staff attend the junior schools in order to assist primary school teachers in the planning and delivery of lessons. The partnership is also able to provide teaching resources to support work in the primary schools.
Gifted mathematicians from local primary schools are attending a series of workshops at Ripon Grammar School, led by the Head of Mathematics, Mrs. Cutress. The lessons are designed to stimulate the children’s interest in mathematics and develop their problem-solving skills.
In the autumn term RGS hosted the second ‘Scrap Heap Challenge’. The ‘Scrap Heap Challenge’ invited parents and the wider community to participate in a competitive event for teams of all ages. This year teams were presented with the challenge of building a device to throw a triangular block at a target to score points for accuracy; marks were also awarded for engineering sophistication. Around sixty people participated in the event which was won by Robin Whitfield, Rachel Sharpe, Morgan Brice and Chris Wallace encouraged by their Deputy Head of Lower School, Miss. Boultby.
Scrap Heap Challenge
In the summer term, a number of our partner primary schools were invited to attend a science demonstration led by Mr. M Hoyland, a chemistry lecturer based at the University of Leeds. Mr Hoyland was ably assisted by Miss Humphrey, a former student at Leeds University, who is now employed as a chemistry teacher at RGS. The primary school children were joined by first year students to witness a science demonstration of various chemical reactions resulting in flames, bangs, pops and squeaks. An exciting time was had by all!
Mr Hoyland - Science Demonstration
Ripon Grammar School invited all primary school partners to participate in the ‘Jaguar Cars Maths in Motion Challenge’. A number of primary schools have taken up this challenge and will be receiving computer software and training early in 2008.
A ‘Maths Trail of Ripon’ has been produced by Mrs G. Hills who is a member of the mathematics department at Ripon Grammar School. The trail is available to all primary schools and encourages the use of mathematics in a practical setting.
Ripon Grammar School continues to widen links with other education providers and work is in progress to establish links with both York College and Leeds University. The aim of forging links is to provide wider provision and educational experiences for both students and businesses in the local area who are seeking training opportunities for their employees.
